BMA: NHS reforms are a big risk

The BMA's chairman of council, Dr Hamish Meldrum, issues his organisation's latest call for the government to abandon its NHS reforms:

"Even at this stage, there are still unanswered questions about what statutory functions some bodies will have, making planning very difficult.

"Guidance is being issued that is overly restrictive and more and more bureaucracy is being created to try to deal with issues which should have been dealt with at the beginning. A huge amount of time, energy, money and commitment has been wasted because of a lack of a clear plan from the outset.

"We want the government to rethink its reform package and withdraw the bill. It should be focusing on delivering high-quality, coordinated and integrated health care, not side-tracking staff with major structural reform.